


Smart-Casual

by SteRhubarb



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mild Angst, good old fashioned 'banter'
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-11
Updated: 2016-12-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 07:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8523415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SteRhubarb/pseuds/SteRhubarb
Summary: Sirius huffed. "You act like it all just does your head in- Like I'm a bit of something to pass the time."Remus mouthed wordlessly for a moment, and then scratched his neck. A precursor, Sirius noted, to something not entirely pleasant about to leave his mouth."I thought that's sort of what what we were doing - wasn't it? - passing time!"





	

  
**Gryffindor Common Room, 21:07**  


  
Sirius dropped down rather unceremoniously on the opposite end of the couch, and huffed a world-weary sigh. After a feigned moment of nonchalance whilst staring off into the fire, he gave Remus a sideways glance and a small smile.

  
Remus returned his own small, wary smile back, adjusted his feet where he had them propped up on a short coffee table and turned the page of his book. "Bored, hm?"

  
"Merlin, _yes_!" Sirius blurted,  _finally someone asked_ , and threw his hands up in desperation. "It's Friday and there's absolutely nothing happening anywhere in this bloody castle! What is wrong with everyone?"

  
Remus rolled his eyes to himself.

  
Sirius flopped pathetically on the couch beside Remus, making him wish he'd rolled his eyes a little harder the first time just to spare himself having to do it a second.

  
"This is actually what everybody does on Fridays, you just never notice because you're usually off causing general disquiet with James."

  
"Pah! James. Damn traitor," Sirius grumbled, his chin tucked sulkily against his chest as he shoved Remus' feet over to make room for his own on the small table.

  
"Anyway," he mumbled after a moment of trying to occupy himself with pulling at a loose thread on the sofa cushion - it was clear, as Remus continued reading, that sulking prettily was not quite working. "Anyway," he repeated, "this can't be what you do every Friday. I know you're not really this boring. It's all a ruse."

  
"It is, actually," Remus replied, not taking his eyes from the book. "I do this every night. I finish any homework, and then read my book in front of the fire, sometimes with a bar of Honeyduke's finest, to relax. It's my evening routine--"

  
"It bloody well isn't," Sirius countered. He rolled onto his side to face Remus and propped himself there on one elbow. There was also a sly grin, but Remus had unfortunately not noticed it yet. "It wasn't what you were doing _last_  Thursday, that's for certain. And the Saturday before that, too."

  
Remus took a deep breath and closed his book.

  
"What do you want, Sirius?"   
  
  
"Come for a walk with me or something." 

  
Remus raised an eyebrow and noted the smirk on Sirius' face. "Are you trying to be coy?"

  
"I wouldn't know, Moony, I don't know what that word means," Sirius deflected, picking at the sofa cushion again.

  
This was how Remus knew he had already lost whatever argument they were about to have. It was always easy to tell, in the simple way that Sirius took his eyes off the target - he didn't need to be watching carefully anymore when he knew he had already hooked you in.

  
Remus pressed on despite this. "You know exactly what 'a walk' will lead to."

  
"Do I?  
  
  
"Yeah."  
  
  
"I do?"  
  
  
"You do, _yes_."  
  
  
"What will it lead to?"  
  
  
Remus huffed, picking up his book again, and pointedly returned to his feet-up position.

  
"Wait!" Sirius scrambled to sit up. "Wait, I'm joking, I'm joking, Moony. I really do just want to get out of this fucking tower for the night. We can go wherever you want, mate. C'mon."

  
Remus grinned down at his book. Sirius watched him desperately for one long minute before Remus closed the book again and stood up.

  
"Fine. Lead the way." Remus pocketed the half-eaten bar of chocolate he'd left on the table. "Actually, no, _I'll_ lead the way."

  
Sirius jumped up. "You're the boss," he shrugged, following in Remus' footsteps as he headed toward the portrait-hole. "Although curfew is in an hour, just so y'know."  
  
  
"When have we ever cared about curfew?"

  
"I thought _you_ cared about it?"  

  
"And that's made a difference on _what_ occasion, Sirius?"

  
Sirius laughed. "Touché."

  
They'd made it to the ground floor, Remus pacing ahead without much care for whether Sirius could keep up or not - which he could, but chose not to so as to smirk at Remus from behind - before a plan felt like something they should agree on.

  
"Where to from here? Keep going down, or head outside?" Sirius asked over Remus' shoulder where he had stopped on the lowest step.

  
"I vote for fresh air. We could walk around the Quidditch pitch?"  
  
  
"Great. And we could always go into the Quidditch shed, y'know, if it gets too cold or something," Sirius added, passing Remus and forging ahead toward the great oak front doors, within which was a smaller cut-out of a regular sized door. This stayed open until approximately 10 o'clock every night until the groundskeeper would come and, with all of the students safely inside, lock it.

  
Remus scoffed. "Yeah, ' _if it gets too cold_   _or something'_." And followed Sirius out of the door.

 

___

  
 **Hogwarts Front Lawn, 21:33  
**

  
"So, where are James and Peter tonight? Didn't they invite you to wherever they've gone?"

  
"I don't bloody know! Any anyway, they obviously didn't invite _you_ , either," Sirius countered.

  
"They did, actually. I know exactly what they're doing," Remus shot back. 

  
Sirius frowned at the side of Remus' face, but he just stared ahead into the wind that was whipping his cheeks, Sirius noted, a very becoming shade of pink.

  
Sometimes Remus shot out these barbs and Sirius could never tell whether they were on purpose or not. He would study Remus' face for an inkling, but there would be no trace.

  
"I didn't mean that," Remus said suddenly. "I mean, I _do_ know what they're doing and I _was_ invited, but you weren't _not_ invited. It's- they're sorting out your birthday present."

  
Sirius brightened immediately. Remus saw and felt it like turning on a heat lamp, and subsequently regretted admitting the information as soon as he'd said it. 

  
"Please don't be insufferable about it. I'm not giving you any clues or hints, and I won't be bribed," he added firmly, but then made the mistake of glancing sideways at Sirius' face. He was beaming back at Remus, almost wicked with delight, and Remus felt himself begin to waver. "I'm serious, Sirius."

  
"No, _I'm_ S-"

  
Remus clamped a hand over Sirius' mouth and shook his head minutely. 

  
"You won't live to see your birthday if you finish that joke."

  
They stood eyeing each other for a beat before the sight of Sirius' mischievous eyes caused him to burst out laughing, and Remus gave him a shove towards the lawn.

  
They quickly fell into step with one another again. 

  
"Why aren't _you_ helping with my birthday-"  
  
  
"Ah-ah," Remus chided. "I said no birthday talk."

  
Sirius itched with the urge to know more. He could jump on Remus and tickle him until he coughed up the details, or threaten to steal his 'secret' stash of chocolate, or a number of other devious intel-gathering methods, but as Remus was usually the brains behind those kinds of things he'd probably be ready for it.

  
"I have to admit, though, Moony, it kind of hurts that you don't care enough to join in my birthday shenanigans." _A round-about way of still centring the conversation on his birthday_ , Remus noted.

  
"Oh, but _I am_ , Pads." He wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. "I'm leading you away from the castle on a Friday night almost two weeks away from your birthday."

  
Sirius gave a delighted shriek of laughter. "Fuck, you're good. C'mon, give me a tiny clue-"

  
"Right, shut up about it now. Look, we're at the pitch, let's talk about..." Remus eyed the shed. "Quidditch."

  
"You hate Quidditch."

  
"What?" Remus yelped a laugh at the absurdity of the accusation. "Just because I'd rather not get on a broom myself, doesn't mean I hate Quidditch."

  
"No, but you hardly ever come to a game, do you?"

  
"Don't be so dense. You know why." Remus huffed a breath out into the chill air, tired of having the same tedious conversations about places he failed to be every month because he wasn't himself, or lying in the hospital wing because of it.

  
He rubbed at his arms and kicked frustratedly at the base of the Quidditch shed door.

  
"Cold?" Sirius asked, in an attempt to change the subject.

  
"No," Remus replied sharply.

  
"Look, I'm sorry I brought it up, Moony. I just always miss you when you're not at a game. It's more fun when we're all there, y'know."

  
Remus nodded his forgiveness, tugging aimlessly at the padlock hanging from the door.

  
"So, you're the distraction, eh? What's your tactic, other than lead me out into the bitter cold on an October evening?" Sirius peered out over the eerily empty stands, their banners flapping in the breeze.

  
"I thought I'd let you guide yourself once we got outside, to be honest. You're usually quite good at getting yourself into _situations_."

  
"Brilliant," Sirius clapped his hands together. One loud crack that echoed around the stands. "I think I spotted a situation in the shed, actually. Would you mind popping the lock off?"

  
Remus gave both Sirius and the shed a wary look, but pulled his wand out of his pocket and set to charming the lock off the door. It dropped to the turf with a dull thud and when he stood from picking it up Sirius was stood close by his left shoulder.

  
"You look cold, we should go inside," he suggested.

  
Remus pocketed the lock, smirking to himself as he shook his head. 

  
"' _Let's go for a walk_ '," he imitated Sirius' casual tone, following him into the cramped space. "' _Hmm, maybe it won't lead to_ -' Oh, _look_ where we are! Squashed inside a fucking dark shed together."

  
"I mean, it's hardly romantic, but I get your point," Sirius shrugged, trying but ultimately failing to hide the satisfied grin on his face, as Remus' fringe brushed his nose.

  
Sirius pushed it gently back and then gripped Remus by the back of the neck, smiling down at his borderline sulking face.

  
"Grumpy Remus is my favourite Remus to be trapped in small, enclosed spaces with," he chuckled.

  
"You've obviously never done it before, then," Remus retorted, fighting the urge to just lick into Sirius' mouth. 

  
"On the contrary, I've done it a great deal of t-"

  
"I do still have my wand in my hand. Just in case you wanted to finish that unbearably smug sentence."

  
"I've changed my mind - _armed_ and grumpy is my new favourite Remus," Sirius laughed, finally leaning in to press a kiss to Remus' sullen pout.

  
No matter how many times they did it, it still felt like a breath of fresh air across his face.

  
Remus quickly stuffed his wand away to free his hands and place them desperately on every inch of Sirius - _face, neck, shoulders, hands, hips_.

  
Sirius tripped backward over a fallen broomstick as Remus shoved him up against the wall.

  
It couldn't have been ten minutes of touching and pressing up against one another, kissing and mouthing against skin, before Sirius pulled away and sighed.

  
"What? What's wrong?" Remus asked, distractedly nuzzling into the hair behind Sirius' left ear.

  
"We're in a shed."

  
Remus' eye roll went un-noticed in the dark. A tragedy, he thought. "Well observed. Did you not notice that it was a shed when you suggested to come inside, because it's the same one you get your broom out of every Tuesday."

  
"Very funny. I mean, why are we hidden in a shed?

  
"We're not _hidden_!"

  
"And why," Sirius pushed on, "up until we were inside said shed, did you act like you didn't want to be here? With me?"

  
Sirius chewed his lip and stared down at Remus' scuffed shoes.

  
The wind whistled through the cracks in the rotten boards that made up the walls.

  
Remus kicked his shoe absently against the crate to his right and shrugged.

  
"Do you like... _this_? Doing this?" Sirius asked carefully.

  
Remus met his gaze. "Do _you_?"

  
"Yeah," Sirius said, a little too quickly to sound casual, he realised immediately afterwards. " _I_ do. I just want to know if you do because, well, sometimes it seems a bit like an inconvenience to you, or something."

  
Remus shook his head and prayed to Merlin that his ever-reddening cheeks didn't glow in the dimness. "Yeah, I like it. I wouldn't do it if I didn't. You're not _that_ good."

  
"See?"

  
"What?"

  
Sirius huffed. "You act like it all just does your head in- Like I'm a bit of something to pass the time."

  
Remus mouthed wordlessly for a moment, and then scratched his neck. A precursor, Sirius noted, to something not entirely pleasant about to leave his mouth.

  
"I thought that's sort of what what we _were_ doing - wasn't it? - passing time!" Remus tried to step back, realising he was uncomfortably close now considering the turn in the conversation, but became befuddled enough to forget he was, in fact, in a small rickety shed and knocked his head on a low beam. "Fuck! Look, Sirius, what's this about? Can you just get to the point?"

  
Sirius raked a hand through his hair. "I'm trying, Remus! Merlin, give a bloke a bloody minute. I'm pouring my heart out here!"

  
"You heart?" Remus laughed nervously.

  
"I meant my feelings-"

  
"Feelings."

  
"I mean, I... thought I knew what I was going to say, but," Sirius groaned under his breath. "I'm really confused now."

  
"You're confusing me, too!" Remus turned, snatching the door to the shed open and marching out onto the pitch.

  
"Wait, I'm sorry," Sirius scurried after him and put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Don't suppose you want to just go back to kissing against the wall and forget I said anything, do you?"

  
He shot a weak smile at Remus, who returned it with a small, mirthless chuckle.

  
"Something's obviously bothering you. Something concerning me, and to do with your feelings, and your uh, heart, and I'd like you to tell me, Sirius," Remus asked, calmly. "Where are you going with this?"

  
"No," Sirius scoffed and shook his head. "You're not gonna make me say it. You know exactly where I was going, but I'm not going there alone."

  
Remus stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, the chill seeping back into their bones after being sheltered from it for a short, but rather steamy amount of time.

  
"Maybe-" Remus coughed and rubbed his arms to stay warm. "Maybe you wouldn't be going there alone."

  
"Ugh!" Sirius threw his hands in the air. "Just- tell me that you know what I'm talking about. Give me some ruddy confirmation that I'm not making stuff up in my head like some, some, like, lovesick puppy, or something!"

  
"If it makes it easier for you, then fine, I do," Remus murmured into the wind.

  
Sirius rolled his eyes and gritted his teeth. "You're infuriating." He rubbed a hand over his face and glanced off over the deserted lawn toward the castle. "Who are you pretending for? There's no-one out here but us, and I'm being pretty clear: I like you. You like me, can't you just say it?"

  
He gave a heavy-hearted sigh and gazed at Remus imploringly. " _Say_ it," he repeated, quiet and a little desperate.

  
Remus folded his arms, frowning, but met Sirius' gaze. "I like you."

  
He fought a strange feeling that bubbled up in his gut and made him want to laugh.

  
Sirius blew out a breath of relief and felt a weight lift. A faint smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

  
"I want you, and you want me. Say it," he urged again, desperately holding Remus' eye.

  
"Stop looking at me like that," Remus pursed his lips. "I can't take you seriously when you're smirking at me like that."

  
Sirius rolled his eyes and tried to suppress the grin. When he thought he might have it under control, he continued. "Say it."

  
Remus shut his eyes, a silent prayer that this wasn't all some sort of joke, and Sirius searched his face for a hint of reluctance.

  
When Remus opened them again, he said the words slowly, studying Sirius' expression carefully. "I want you."

  
They stood silent for a long minute until Remus raised an eyebrow. "Happy?"

  
Sirius laughed. "Are you _not_?"

  
"I'm... Well, I wish it had gone a little nicer," Remus admitted.

  
Sirius snorted. "Music and fireworks to accompany?"

  
"Maybe even just within the vicinity of a warm fire so I could have the feeling in my extremities," he mused, as Sirius took a step up and wrapped his arms around Remus to warm him.

  
"As long as there's feeling in your _in_ tremities," he hummed. "That's all I'm concerned about."

   
Remus gave an almighty eye-roll and tugged himself out of Sirius' grasp. "Nn-nn. Nope. That's not a word," he called over his shoulder as he stalked back up toward the castle. "I take back my declaration of any kind of feelings toward you - I can't be with someone who doesn't appreciate the English language."

 

 

 

 


End file.
